Sunday, February 12, 2017

Why is Kevin Durant a Cupcake?

Cupcakes are a lovely treat. I like chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting myself. I also know that these soft, delicious treats are also used to denigrate soft athletes. Think: That running back is s such a cupcake going down without getting tackled!

That brings us to Kevin Durant. New flash, Durant left Oklahoma City last year to join the Juggernaut Golden State Warriors, presumably to try to win an NBA championship. Newsflash, Russell Westbrook was really upset about it. Now who knows how much is overblown media frenzy, and how much is legitimate. All we know is that Durant's homecoming was coming up. Even the boys wanted to watch the game. I wanted to after hearing that Durant hired extra security detail for the game.

How do Cupcakes work into this narrative? Well, when Durant left for Golden State, Westbrook posted a picture of a bunch of cupcakes, in a thinly veiled shot at Durant's "softness." The cupcake nickname has floated around Oklahoma City for years as a way to call out teammates who were acting like crybabies. The cupcakeKD moniker took off from there. Honestly, I don't know how the cupcake picture took off, but here we are.

As game time approached, cupcakes were becoming THE thing. Cupcake T-Shirts were handed out with large cupcakes on them. Guys dressed up like cupcakes started popping up. Guys painted their chests into cupcake colors. T-shirts were being made and sold. The home crowd started chanting "Cupcake, cupcake" Particularly when Durant and Westbrook started to trash talk each other were the chants alarmingly loud.

It wasn't much of a game though. Golden State took the lead in the middle of the first quarter on their way to a 130-114 victory. And oh yeah, Durant scored 34 points to overshadow a 47 point, rebound effort from Westbrook.